The Soul's Fire

Chapter 13

  "Da, I do," Russia said, frowning slightly. Why wouldn't he believe that anyone who had hurt her needed to die?
She turned back to face the door and said very quietly, "Then you should know that if you hurt my friends or anyone I might care about, then you are hurting me."
With that, she left, closing the door behind her.
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"You seem quiet today, Masha," Latvia said timidly, looking over at her.
Masha blinked and looked away.
"I'm sorry," she murmured, picking her rag back up.
"You don't need to be sorry," Latvia put in quickly. "I just wondered if something's wrong."
Masha sighed and leaned against the bookshelf, looking weary.
"It's just my leg," she murmured, indicating the leg she always limped on.
"Does it hurt?" Latvia asked.
"No, not physically," she said, glancing at the window distractedly. "It's just . . . memories. It got broke because I jumped out of a window."
"Why did you jump out of a window?!" he asked before he could stop himself.
"The building was on fire," she said, eyes glazing over as the memory flooded her mind. "My mother - my real one - had been drinking again and accidentally started a fire in the kitchen. By the time we realized that there was trouble, it was too late to use the stairs. So I jumped."
She said it calmly, but Latvia could see suppressed sadness, pain, and . . . anger? He looked closer. Yes, definitely anger. Behind all the agony and grief, boiling anger bubbled at the back of her mind.
"I'm sorry, Masha," was all he could think of to say.
A faint smile tugged at her lips as she went back to her dusting.
"You don't need to be," she murmured. "But thank you."
She glanced back at him. "You are allowed to tell the others," she added quietly. "They may as well know."
Latvia stared at her for a second. She really was amazing.